Mushroom Barley Soup

 What better way to spend a gray winter day, than in the kitchen baking bread & making a big pot of homemade soup.

Yesterday, I had a craving for Mushroom Barley Soup, so I did just that. 

The ingredients for the soup are pretty straight forward, a mirepoix of celery, carrots, garlic & onions, then mushrooms & barely. What could be more simple!

I used a combination of white button mushrooms, baby portabellas, & dried porcini, with a cup of pearl barley, bought in bulk at Whole Foods. 

Start by cooking your barley separately, 2 cups water to 1 cup of barley.

Soak & chop the dried mushrooms.

 In a large stock pot sauté the vegetables for the mirepoix

I sautéed my mushrooms in a separate skillet , so that they got nicely browned, adding salt & lots of fresh ground pepper.

Then combine all the ingredients with about 6 cups of stock. 

Most recipes call for beef broth, but I used Better Than Bouillon Mushroom Base instead, making mine a vegetarian soup.

While the soup simmered,  I began the batter for my bread.

 One of my all time favorite recipes is Herd & Onion Bread from  

The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas.

You can see the recipe here or here. If you have never tried making this wonderful bread, I highly recommend making the effort. It is such a delicious, easy & quick yeast bread recipe.

What a cozy feeling, to have both bread rising & a pot of soup warming on the stove!

The Mushroom Barley Soup made a perfect winter dinner,

accompanied by a green salad & thick slices of homemade bread.

As long as I was in the kitchen, I might as well whip up a quick dessert too! 

We finished our meal with apple blueberry crisp.

Yum, this is my favorite kind of winter supper, simple yet hardy. 

Have a warm, cozy & nurturing weekend everyone!